Scene from Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso": The Damsel and Orlando
Artist: Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820)
Date: 1793
Dimensions:
35 7/8 × 28 in. (91.1 × 71.1 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Florence Scott Libbey
Object number: 1912.10
Label Text:The dramatic interplay of glances and gestures depicts the climactic moment when Orlando, hero of the 1516 Italian epic poem, Orlando Furioso (Orlando Enraged), realizes that his love, Angelica, has married another. A shepherdess and her husband show Orlando a bracelet that Angelica gave to them as thanks for sheltering Angelica and her new husband. The astonished Orlando recognizes the bracelet as one he had given to Angelica as a token of his love. The children toying with Orlando’s discarded armor recall a Renaissance motif suggesting a warrior “disarmed” or “unmanned” by love. The frothing horse foreshadows Orlando’s eventual madness caused by the loss of Angelica.
The first American artist to become internationally renowned, Benjamin West spent most of his career in London, where he was an influential teacher (he taught many American artists, including John Trumbull and Washington Allston; see their paintings in this gallery).
The first American artist to become internationally renowned, Benjamin West spent most of his career in London, where he was an influential teacher (he taught many American artists, including John Trumbull and Washington Allston; see their paintings in this gallery).
On view
In Collection(s)